


Soldier On

by haylieraine, thatfruitcake (yusukesjeans)



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, House M.D.
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Fan Comics, Fantasy Medicine, Gen, Planet Scar Syndrome | Geostigma, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 05:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18887725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haylieraine/pseuds/haylieraine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/yusukesjeans/pseuds/thatfruitcake
Summary: House and company attempt to treat a Shin-Ra Electric Power Company SOLDIER with a mysterious illness, and science and magic appear to collide.[Chapter 1 is a two-page comic, Chapter 2 is script format.]





	1. Coming Soon on House...

**Author's Note:**

> PunkAceBitch and I started writing/drawing this back in 2008 or so, when Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was fairly new, and we were both actively watching House. I recently decided to finish my comic portion, but we never expanded the rest out of the script format draft. There are some unfinished pieces, but hopefully it's still fun to read! Set in Midgar, rather than Princeton, and around Season 2 of House/an alternate timeline for Advent Children.

  



	2. Soldier On [Unfinished Script]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neither I (PunkAceBitch) or ThatFruitcake are doctors. The writers of House probably have more medical training than we do. I remember doing some sort of research to inform the differential diagnosis back in 2008, but I can't validate my findings with Wikipedia today. So please look past the extreme medical inaccuracies presented herein...

[Opening]

_(“Fly-over” from Edge to Midgar. Scene shows Aerith’s church. Pan to an alley at the side of the church where CLOUD’S motorcycle is parked. TIFA observes it.)_  
  


**TIFA:** So this is where you’ve been hiding.  
  


_She enters the church and looks around, calls CLOUD’S name once or twice._ _Sees CLOUD at the other end of the church. Perhaps he has been looking at the flowers, sitting in a pew, or contemplating the hole in the church roof._  
  


**TIFA:** Cloud?  
  


_Cloud has a geostigma attack. He collapses and falls forward, clutching his arm, which oozes black ichor. He grunts and his face contorts as he tries to bite back the pain–-he won’t let himself scream. This is debilitating, but he’s probably felt worse. His eyes become unfocused and his pupils shrink to cat-eye slits._

_TIFA gasps and CLOUD blacks out._  
  


T **IFA:** Cloud?!  
  


_She runs to where he is now lying on the ground and puts her hands on him._    
  


**TIFA:** Cloud!  
  


_She looks upward, appealing to the heavens, and the camera draws upward, through the hole in the roof, and out._

 

[Scenes from HOUSE M.D. opening credits -- "Teardrop" by Massive Attack plays]

  

[Scene 1: Power issues]

 

_HOUSE is fiddling with a computer mouse, glaring accusingly at the blank monitor. CUDDY walks into the room, carrying a file._

**HOUSE:** Hey woman, what have you done to my computer? 

 **CUDDY:** It’s a temporary outage. You’ll have it back in a couple hours.

 **HOUSE:** Hours?! You’re going to leave an old cripple without internet porn for two _hours_?

 **CUDDY:** (hand on hip) Mako power is unstable now. The lifestream started changing course after Meteorfall, and now it isn’t flowing into the Shin-Ra reactors. What I’m running here is a hospital. A hospital that needs electricity to save people. We’re in the process of switching to back-up coal generators. Your computer just happened to be on the same grid as some of the important equipment. So forget the computer and do something you’re good at. (She drops the file on HOUSE’S desk) Case.

_She marches out of HOUSE’S office._

 

[Scene 2: We’re treating a SOLDIER? – First differential]

_HOUSE strides into the room with the whiteboard. CAMERON, CHASE, and FOREMAN are already seated at the table. HOUSE pitches the file folder onto the table, and then pours himself a cup of coffee as he talks._

**HOUSE:** Got a twenty-three-year-old male, former soldier, passes out in front of his girlfriend, black stuff leaking out of his arm.

 **FOREMAN:** We’re treating a guy from the military?

 **HOUSE:** No, think _scarier_.

 **CHASE:** You mean he’s from SOLDIER?

 **CAMERON:** The Shin-Ra Company’s special forces? I don’t believe it…

  **CHASE:** I’ve never actually seen one up close.

 **HOUSE:** We’re not here to stare into his glow-in-the-dark eyes. We’re here to diagnose ‘im.

  **FOREMAN:** It doesn’t matter. There’s a policy about these things. Every injured SOLDIER operative must be surrendered to a Company-run facility for treatment.

  **CAMERON:** Shin-Ra is a pile of rubble. What do you want us to do? We’re helping him!

 **FOREMAN:** So what? SOLDIERs are injected with tons of mako. We don’t know anything about how it will react to treatment. We don’t even know that we have the right equipment to help him. All we know is that mako is a mutagen. How do we even know this guy’s human?

 **CAMERON:** He’s a patient! Are you suggesting we—

  **HOUSE:** Foreman’s exaggerating. There’s no proof that mako can mutate human DNA to the point that it’s no longer human. What causes… black stuff?

  **CHASE:** Gangrene.

  **FOREMAN:** The discharge is from his arm. That’s not a wet area. It isn’t gangrene.

  **CAMERON:** Flesh-eating disease.

  **CHASE:** No, he’d have a fever. And neither gangrene nor necrotizing fasciitis explains the loss of consciousness.

 **HOUSE:** Chase, take some of that junk coming out of his arm to the lab and find out what it is. And take a sample of his blood while you're at it.  

 

[Scene 3: Foreman meets Cloud and Tifa]

 **FOREMAN:** Cloud Strife, I’m Dr. Foreman. I work for Dr. House. How’s your arm?

 **CLOUD:** Pain’s dulled for now.

 **FOREMAN:** Well, you’re in good hands here. Dr. House is a diagnostic genius. We’ll figure out what’s wrong with you. (to Tifa) And you are?

 **TIFA:** Tifa Lockhart. Cloud and I live together.

 **FOREMAN:** How long have you known each other?

 **TIFA:** We both came from the same small town, and then we… ran into each other again in Midgar. We’ve been together since Meteorfall. Not… romantically. Like a family.

 **FOREMAN:** A family?

 **TIFA:** Yeah. Cloud and I, and the kids.

 **FOREMAN:** You have kids?

 **TIFA:** They’re not ours. Denzel is an orphan, and Marlene’s staying with us until her father gets back from a trip.

 **FOREMAN:** (to CLOUD) So you're good with kids? 

_CLOUD shrugs his shoulders._

**FOREMAN:** Have you travelled anywhere within the past six months?

 **CLOUD:** Yeah. All over. I run a delivery service. A lot of places are hard to get to now because of the monsters, so I get a lot of business. I think I’ve covered most of the map at least once.

 **FOREMAN:** Where were you most recently?

 **CLOUD:** I had to deliver some Chocobo feed from Icicle to Kalm. Since then I’ve stuck around Midgar.

 **FOREMAN:** Okay, when did you first notice your current symptoms?

 **CLOUD:** My arm’d been sore for a while. Month or so, but I lift a lot of heavy things so it didn’t seem unusual. The other day was the first time that it flared up like that. I was really lucky Tifa was there.

_(TIFA looks surprised, but only the reader notices)_

**FOREMAN:** (Checks watch) That’s all we need to know right now. We’re still waiting for your labs to come back, but we’ll let you know as soon as we find out anything.

 **TIFA:** Thank you, Dr. Foreman.

 

[Scene 4: Why stick around? – In the hallway with HOUSE and TEAM]

 **FOREMAN:** Apparently the woman who found Cloud unconscious in the church is his housemate. They’ve lived together since Meteorfall, along with two kids they’re taking care of.

 **CAMERON:** (pleasantly surprised) Kids? Really? 

 **FOREMAN:** One of them’s an orphan and the other they’re babysitting for a friend.

 **CHASE:** So… So SOLDIERS and kids get along?

 **CAMERON:** It’s a military branch, not a personality disorder.

 **FOREMAN:** But he didn’t exactly get warm and fuzzy when Tifa talked about them. Just shrugged.

 **CAMERON:** He’s sick. He’s out of his element. I don’t think a shrug proves he doesn’t care—

 **HOUSE:** They’re not his kids. Why should he care?  
The question is: why does she?  
Foreman, you said “housemate.” That means she’s not getting any living with him, and he doesn’t care about her kids. Why stick around?  
Either she’s in love with him, or she pities him. Either way, she sticks by him because she’s afraid of what will happen if she doesn’t. Find out why. My guess is this isn't the first time Cloud's had a near-death experience.

_HOUSE's team gets a page._

**CAMERON:** This isn’t good.

 

[Scene 5: Nightmare – In CLOUD’s hospital room]

 **TIFA:** Help him! He’s really in pain! Cloud!

 **CLOUD:** (clutching his arm in pain, growling with gritted teeth) Get away from her… I won’t let you hurt her again!

_CAMERON and CHASE attempt to restrain CLOUD or get him to calm down._

**CHASE:** What’s he talking about?

_TIFA shakes her head, too scared to answer._

**CAMERON:** Cloud, we’re doctors. We’ll get you more pain medicine. We need you to calm down.

_CLOUD looks wildly at them for an instant, then seems to realize where he is._

**CLOUD:** (breathing raggedly) I drifted off… Bad dream… I’m…

_CLOUD bows his head in pain again. TIFA has a look on her face like she would cry if she weren’t so determined to be CLOUD’S strength._

**CHASE:** (to a nurse) Need some morphine** here!

 _**[or any painkiller that makes sense]_  

 **CAMERON:** (very concerned) What kind of dream?

 **CLOUD:** Nightmare. It’s not important.

 **TIFA:** Cloud. It’s okay.

 **CLOUD:** (to nurse, who’s returning) Thanks for the meds.

 **CHASE:** You should be feeling better as soon as the painkillers kick in. Come on, Cameron.

_TIFA follows CAMERON and CHASE out of the room._

**TIFA:** Do you know what’s wrong with him?

 **CHASE:** Not yet, but we will.

 **TIFA:** That dream he was having… It’s been almost two years now… but one of our good friends... She was murdered in front of him. And he blames himself… more than he should. I think that’s what he was dreaming about. I think it still bothers him more than he wants to admit.

 **CAMERON:** (putting a hand on TIFA’S shoulder) It’s all right. We’ll do whatever we can.

 

[Scene 6: PTSD]

_CAMERON comes into HOUSE’S office._

**CAMERON:** The patient’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

 **HOUSE:** Funny how that doesn’t explain the pain and the black stuff coming out of his arm.

 **CAMERON:** He saw his friend murdered, and he’s having nightmares about it. He woke up screaming. He needs psychiatric help.

 **HOUSE:** Did he ask to talk to a shrink?

 **CAMERON:** No, but—

 **HOUSE:** Then he doesn’t want help. That’s not my problem. Unless it happens to be linked to the problem that _is_ my problem.

 **CAMERON:** You wanted us to figure out what he went through. This is it.

 **HOUSE:** Nope. Not big enough.

 **CAMERON:** A _murder_ isn’t big enough?

 **HOUSE:** (absentmindedly playing with something) Nope. There’s something going on here that we’re all missing.  The girlfriend's hiding something.

  

[Scene 7: Foreman confronts Tifa.]

_Later. TIFA is returning to CLOUD’S hospital room. She carries a paper coffee cup. FOREMAN intercepts her in the hallway._

**FOREMAN:** Tifa, can I talk to you for a minute?

 **TIFA:** Uh, sure. What is it?

 **FOREMAN:** I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about Cloud’s medical history.

 **TIFA:** Of course. (confused) But why can’t you ask him?

 **FOREMAN:** You two seem pretty close. Maybe you noticed something he missed. When did you first notice he was sick?

 **TIFA:** I-I didn’t until I saw him in the church.

 **FOREMAN:** Nothing at all? You may not have thought it was a symptom at the time. You two live together. Maybe you noticed something.

 **TIFA:** (looking at the ground) We don’t…live together. We did, for about a year. I thought everything was fine, but he left… two months ago. He just didn’t come back from his deliveries. It was coincidence that I found him at the church. I didn’t mention it because, with Cloud back, I wanted to pretend like we were a real family again.

  

 [Scene 8: Report back].

 

 **FOREMAN:** Cloud and Tifa haven’t actually been living together. He left without an explanation two months ago, and Tifa found him in the church by coincidence. She thinks he’s been living there.

 **CHASE:** Why did she lie?

 **FOREMAN:** Denial. Some last-ditch attempt to hold her family together. 

 **HOUSE:** Trouble in paradise, eh? Cameron and Chase, check out the church. We can’t rule out the possibility that something there made him sick. Foreman, check out Tifa’s bar and the apartment. Find out what our home-wrecker left behind.

 

[Scene 9: Cameron and Chase search the church.]

 **CHASE:** He’s been living _here_? It’s falling apart. It’s gotta be full of mold and bacteria—

 **CAMERON:** And flowers. This must be the only place in lower Midgar where you can see the sky. They must get just enough rainfall from that hole in the roof.

 **CHASE:** (sampling and bagging something) Better take one. Maybe it’s some kind of weird allergy. (stumbles upon the box of materia) Hey, this guy’s got his own personal stash of materia. Looks like enough to equip a small army. And—shit!

 **CAMERON:** (jumping to action, concerned) What is it?

 **CHASE:** (gesturing towards First Tsurugi, which is leaning against the wall) Remind me not to piss this guy off. That thing is massive! (He tries to lift it, with little success) SOLDIER sure is something else.

 **CAMERON:** Look, Chase. (examining the area with Cloud’s bedroll and the crate that seems to serve as a table. She picks up some stained bandages with gloved fingers) Bandages. First aid equipment. He knew he was sick before Tifa found him. He’s been trying to hide it.

 

[Scene 10: Foreman searches 7th Heaven while Cameron and Chase search the church. Foreman is on his cell phone, talking to them.]

 **FOREMAN:** Nothing out of the ordinary in the bar or the rest of the apartment. Cloud’s room is a mess, but it looks like it hasn’t been touched in a while. Everything’s covered in dust. The desk is covered in delivery receipts, and there’s nothing in the drawers except a few pens. If these receipts and the photos on the wall are any indication, he really has been everywhere. Mideel, Icicle Lodge, Cosmo Canyon… There’s nothing we can rule out. The only unusual things here are this tire, and an entire case of Amino-D.

(Cameron and Chase are on speaker-phone, sitting in a church pew.) 

 **CHASE:** Tire’s probably a spare for his motorbike. We found it parked outside. Looks like he makes a hobby of souping it up.

 **CAMERON:** What’s Amino-D?

 **FOREMAN:** (examining a can) Looks like some kind of energy drink.

 **CAMERON:** That’s not good. Caffeine can worsen PTSD.

 **CHASE:** _If_ it’s PTSD.  
…That’s it! It’s a symptom. Kind-of an obvious one, really. Fatigue. You don’t buy a whole case of energy drinks unless you plan on pulling a lot of all-nighters. Or, you realize that you’re more tired than you’re used to. And you know it’s not going to go away just by getting a few more hours’ sleep.

 **FOREMAN:** I found a receipt. He bought them nearly three months ago.

 **CHASE:** And he ditched his girlfriend and the kids a month later.

 **FOREMAN:** Because the disease progressed. He could hide the fatigue by loading up on caffeine, but he had some other symptom. Something that was harder to miss.

 **CAMERON:** But why? He knows he’s sick. Why let it progress for three months? Why not see a doctor, or at least talk to Tifa? Why run away and hide like this?

 

 [scene 11 - test results]

 **CHASE:** (papers in hand) Tests came back on Cloud's blood and the discharge from his arm.  No sign of [diseases they were testing for].  And the tox screen came back completely negative.  The lab's still not sure what this black stuff _is,_ but if you were to just look at Cloud's blood, you'd think he was completely healthy. 

 **HOUSE:** Run it again.

 **CHASE:** I _told_ you, there's nothing there.

 **HOUSE:** Foreman.  (FOREMAN looks up, concerned--why is he being dragged into this?) Run it again.

 **FOREMAN:** Chase said there was nothing there, House.  Maybe we're on the wrong track.

 **HOUSE:** There's something there.  Run it again.  Cameron. Make sure he does it.

_CAMERON looks irritated, and FOREMAN rolls his eyes as they leave._

 [scene 12 - strange cells]

 **FOREMAN:** House is just wasting our time, having us re-run these labs. There’s nothing abnormal here.

 **CAMERON:** (wearing her glasses in this scene) I agree that this case is making House crazy,  but his hunches have a way of being right.  Do you really want to take the chance?

 **FOREMAN:** We don't even know what we're looking for—(looking in microscope) What the hell is that thing?

_CAMERON looks into FOREMAN’s microscope._

**CAMERON:** I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, it’s clearly an animal cell but…

 **FOREMAN:** House was right. But what does that mean?

 

[Scene 13 - Back in House’s office.]

 **CAMERON:** We found unidentified cells floating in Cloud’s bloodstream.

 **FOREMAN:** The same cells were in the discharge from his arm. His body’s forcing them out, but they’re still multiplying.

 **CHASE:** Some kind of cancer?

 **HOUSE:** I’ll talk to Wilson.

 

[scene 14 - lunch]

_HOUSE drops a bag of chips on WILSON’s tray. WILSON sighs and gives a few dollars to the cashier._

**HOUSE:** So what kind of a name is Cloud?

 **WILSON:** (disinterested) Who’s Cloud?

 **HOUSE:** (with chips in his mouth) Patient.

 **WILSON:** Well, naming a kid after weather isn’t unheard up. I’ve met a few girls named Raine, and a couple of Skys. Even one Sunny.

 **HOUSE:** Let me rephrase: Who names their _son_ Cloud?

 **WILSON:** Does it even matter? I hate to side against Cuddy, but why do you even do clinic duty if all you do is complain?

 **HOUSE:** This isn’t a clinic patient. Cloud is the name of my current case. The ex-SOLDIER with the mystery disease?

 **WILSON:** (holding back a chuckle) Seriously? Not to be rude, but I would have expected something…

 **HOUSE:** Less white and fluffy? I guess it must not be hard to join SOLDIER because this guy is a wuss… But I need you to look at some test results.

 **WILSON:** You think he has cancer?

 **HOUSE:** No. I wanted to try cancer treatment.

  

[scene 15 - Wilson’s office?] 

 **WILSON:** You’re right, it’s definitely not cancer. The only thing they have in common is the proliferating malignant cells. But unlike cancer, they’re not coming from anywhere. These aren’t mutated liver cells or lung cells or brain cells. They’re just alien mutated cells that are taking over his arm while his immune system fails to fight them off.

 **HOUSE:** But would chemo kill them?

 **WILSON:** There’s no guarantee, and with all the side effects, it’d be too risky. Besides, there’s no recorded case of a SOLDIER ever having cancer. No one knows how the radiation will react to mako. You could seriously damage—

 **HOUSE:** (angry) That arm is already seriously damaged. We take risks all the time with other patients. The only difference between him and them is a little bit of mako… (expression changes. House has an idea: there’s another difference besides mako. He walks out of the room.)

 **WILSON:** (exasperated) House….

 

[transition scene - 16]

_HOUSE tries to turn on his computer again, it doesn't turn on.  He uses a paperclip to break into someone's office in another part of the hospital because his power's still off so that he can use their computer to snoop around.  He sees file on the desk -- Shin-Ra employee health insurance for some patient.  Goes to hospital room, sneaks login info out of guy's ID holder or wallet or something._

 [scene 17 - GM Tomatoes]

 **HOUSE:** (holding up a printout) How much do you really know about the tomatoes you eat?

 **FOREMAN:** (irritated) Is this what you paged us for?

 **HOUSE:** The tomatoes at most grocery stores are genetically modified. Splice in a little pig DNA and they get nice and plump.

 **CHASE:** So what? Cloud’s problem’s got nothing to do with pig tomatoes.

 **HOUSE:** Inject a rat with mako and it mutates. You've seen 'em in textbooks.  Green scales, the whole nine yards.  SOLDIERs are injected with a dose so large that it concentrates in the irises and makes ‘em light up. But they don’t mutate. What keeps SOLDIERs from becoming monsters?

_(pan to the team’s flashing eyes)_

_(HOUSE brandishes the research paper he printed out)_

**HOUSE:** The answer, according to the head of Shin-Ra’s science department, is hair of the dog. Mix some cells from a monster into the mako, and it loses its mutating effects. But you’ve gotta be pretty choosy when deciding what kinda cells to mix in if you’re making an army of super-humans. You’re looking for something “out-of-this-world.” 

_(slaps his cane down on a picture of Jenova in the research paper)_

**HOUSE:** Jenova. She’s an ancient organism that Shin-Ra dug up in the northern cave, and beyond the blue skin and nice tits she’s got some interesting properties. According to Dr. Hojo here, among other things, she was at least partly responsible for wiping out the Ancients because she could mimic their behavior and prey on them. So her individual cells have a similar property. They mimic the surrounding tissue. In a SOLDIER that’s functioning normally, we shouldn’t see them at all.

 **CAMERON:** (glasses on, studying the paper) Where did you find this?

 **HOUSE:** Shin-Ra database. The nice gentleman in room 304 doesn’t need his log-in information while he’s being treated for stomach ulcers. Password’s his name and birthday, by the way, no spaces.

 **CHASE:** So everyone in Shin-Ra knows about this, but they covered it up.

 **HOUSE:** Well, yeah. Telling your everyday Joe Schmoe that SOLDIERs are pig tomatoes would cause chaos.

 **CAMERON:** Does Cloud know?

 **FOREMAN:** (studying the report) If he read the informed consent before he signed it, he knows he was injected with mako and “J-Cells.”

 

[scene 18 - acting like Zack]

 **CLOUD:** Yeah, I knew about it.

 **FOREMAN:** But you let them go through with it?

 **CLOUD:** (not looking at Foreman) I wanted to be a hero.

 **FOREMAN:** Is it hard to join SOLDIER? There’s gotta be tests and screenings…

 **CLOUD:** Yeah, there’s some. It was hard.

 **FOREMAN:** What did you have to do specifically?

 **CLOUD:** Lots of evaluations. Agility and muscle mass and stuff. They want you to be eating right. Reasoning tests.

 **FOREMAN:** Reasoning tests?

 **CLOUD:** Yeah, they say the SOLDIER modifications can screw up your mind if you’re not right for it.

 **FOREMAN:** So there’s a psychological evaluation.

 **CLOUD:** Yeah. (grins suddenly) A guy on a couch asks you some weird questions. I guess they want to make sure you don’t lose your cool on duty.

_(Foreman glances at Tifa and she looks pale)_

**FOREMAN:** Makes sense. Well, your IV’s fine now.

_(As he leaves the room, he sees Tifa reach for Cloud’s hand)_

 

[Scene 19 - that was weird - in hallway]

 **FOREMAN:** (to Cameron) There’s something wrong with that guy. I was asking him about the SOLDIER evaluations, and suddenly he actually looks at me and starts grinning.

 **CAMERON:** Maybe he remembered something happy. You’ve never had something pop into your head that made you smile?

 **FOREMAN:** No, this is weird. His expression was totally different, like it didn’t belong on his face. It was freaky. And Tifa looked uncomfortable.

 **CHASE:** Reacting inappropriately to social cues.  Could be mild schizophrenia.  And there was that hallucination...

 **CAMERON:** But Tifa seemed to think that was some kind of a flashback.  I still think PTSD is a factor here.

 **FOREMAN:** And this wasn't like that.  It was like... You know how Cloud's been each time we've treated him?

 **CHASE:** Quiet, depressed, despondent?

 **FOREMAN:** (nods) He wasn't like that.  He was talkative, almost cheerful.  The way it happened all of a sudden -- he was like a different person.  And the way Tifa looked at him... I hate to sound like House, but I think she knows something she's not telling us.

 **CHASE:** We'll have to talk to her again.

 **CAMERON:** I'll see if I can get her by herself when I go check on Cloud's IV.

 

[scene # - House phone conversation]

_House is on the phone._

**HOUSE:** Hello. Yes. Is there anyone I can speak to in the records department of Public Safety Maintenance? Thank you… Yes, I’m calling to inquire into the combat record of a Mr. Cloud Strife. Yes, he’s a distant cousin of mine and we take great pride in our family’s tradition of service to the Company.

_He pauses to listen, and his expression changes to a frown._

**HOUSE:** … That’s very unfortunate. No, that’s all. Thank you for your time.

_House is clearly perplexed. He writes on the white board:_

 

            Cloud Strife—Infantryman

 

            Suppressing mild insurrections post-Wutai War

 

            Nibelheim Reactor—Routine maintenance—KIA?

  

[scene # - identity confrontation]

 

_HOUSE bursts into CLOUD’s hospital room. CAMERON is doing something with CLOUD’s IV. TIFA is sitting by the bed._

**HOUSE:** (to Cloud. He sounds threatening, demanding) Who are you, really?

 **TIFA:** (panicked) What are you talking about? Cloud is Cloud.

 **CLOUD:** (to Cameron) Who’s this guy?

 **CAMERON:** That’s Doctor House. He’s not known for his manners.

 **HOUSE:** Cloud Strife was killed in action in Nibelheim almost 9 years ago. Not only that, but he never made it past the level of infantryman. He was never in SOLDIER. So who are you, really?

 **CLOUD:** Who told you that?

 **HOUSE:** Records.

 **CLOUD:** Huh. So that’s how it is.

 **TIFA:** Shin-Ra’s not always accurate. They must have messed up somewhere, because Cloud’s right here!

 **CAMERON:** House, can we do this later? What’s going on? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then we got stuck trying to figure out how to reasonably explain Cloud's medical history as a human lab rat and his identity issues. For the ending, we came up with a deus ex machina similar to the ending of Advent Children. Cloud's health seems hopeless, and then Tifa starts talking to Aerith, saying “You helped us out of a pinch once before…” Then, there's a sudden random power surge at the hospital, and the lifestream bursts out of an electrical outlet, curing Cloud. And then House's entire team believes in miracles and Tifa and Cloud check out of the hospital to live happily ever after while a period-appropriate pop song plays and the credits roll?


End file.
